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When a child actress is called a vile name by an long-running satire site, a beautiful young singer is labeled a stoner for wearing dreadlocks and a phenomenal 13-year old-female athlete is called a slut, they deserve more than a canned, robotic mea culpa.

It feels like Hollywood is finally starting to get what so many of us knew all along; audiences want to see diversity. Yet somehow, at this exciting moment of progress for the industry, Deadline Hollywood found it appropriate to publish what can only be described as a call for regression.

John's life has a lesson for us today. His struggle -- our struggle -- for a just society, for true equality and respect -- is not over. Far from it. All we have to look at is the widespread assault on the Voting Rights Act today. But like him, we cannot walk away; we cannot give up.

There's nothing to be happy about -- no feel-good takeaways -- when a middle school girl gets insulted by a man and has to speak up for him so he can continue a baseball career no one gives a fuck about. She is not supposed to be anyone's savior or protector. We need to be saving and protecting her.

Channeling the revolutionary essence of the Harlem Renaisance, Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly is a gripping, soul-driven melodrama that masterfully depicts the story of a courageous young man fighting through the painful process of liberating himself.

In our everyday fights to silence the racist chants of misguided college students and stifle overaggressive police who racially profile black children, we must reach the finish line. The next generation should never have to question whether their lives matter.

Despite past voting obstacles, there are compelling reasons for blacks in Ferguson to rush to barricades this time to vote. One is the prospect of a regime change. Another is they could move to dump the racket that city officials have run for years that criminalizes virtually the city entire black population. Another is there's no excuse.

The n-word has the blood of thousands of lynchings, beatings, and other horrific crimes melded between its letters, meshed in its very fibers. So, why do some white people want the right to use this abhorrent word again?

I was running errands with my youngest two children in tow when an acquaintance of ours spotted us and came over to say hello. She looked at my son, marveling over how much he had grown.
"Yes," I smiled, "He's a big boy!" She replied, "Such a cute little thug." My son is 2 years old.

While we applaud Starbucks for their effort to engage a topic that many seek to avoid, and while their efforts seem well-intentioned, we, as a national racial justice organization, with a name similar to the hashtag used in the campaign feel compelled to say: as a nation, we need more.

Funding for school policing programs has expanded and more school-based police are being armed with the same weapons cops carry on the streets. This expansion has not come with significant strings attached or proper guidelines.

With all due respect to Pastors Creflo and Taffi, instead of wasting community funds on frivolous expenses like a Gulfstream G650, maybe you should spend more time reaching out to the community in order to understand what they need, and how you can use your ministry to support them!

Until the age of 16 swimming was something that took over my life; between two-a-day practices, traveling for competitions, and supporting teammates, my time was mostly spent in the pool or cheering right next to it.

When I visited the Sivile Primary School in South Africa's Western Cape, I was struck by a feeling. It was a feeling of the vulnerability of the children all around me, who are put at huge risk every single day.

Comments: (5)

HAIL!!! MASCULINE SALUTATIONS!!! ALMIGHTY ABBA!!! GOD!!!! IN HEAVEN!!! HAIL TO THEE!!!! HAIL TO THEE SEPIA SPECTRUM COLOR PEOPLE!! HAIL SEPIA YOU ALL SENSATIONAL!!! HAIL!!! TO YOU, FROM THIS GRAMBLING GRADUATE. HAIL!!! OUR MUSIC; SOME BLACK HISTORY FROM "LERONE BENNETT JR.", AUTHOR OF BEFORE THE MAYFLOWER. A HISTORY OF BLACK AMERICA. ISBN-978-0-87485-0079 IF YOU WISH IT FROM THE LIBRARY OR THE BOOKSTORE. PAGE 447. QUOTE---"WE MUST NEVER FORGET THAT THE BIG HOUSES OF THE SOUTH AND THE NORTH WERE "CULTURALLY STERILE" AND THAT IT WAS LEFT TO THE BLACK AND UNKNOWN BARDS OF SLAVERY, AND THEIR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN, TO CREATE AMERICA'S ONLY CLASSICAL MUSIC AND ORIGINAL DANCE. AMERICA WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AMERICA, AND AMERICA CANNOT BE AMERICA, WITHOUT THE GIFTS BLACK AMERICANS HAVE SO FREELY GIVEN. HAD THERE BEEN NO BLACKS HERE, HAD THERE BEEN NO DARKNESS AT ALL, THIS WOULD BE A PALER AND A POORER PLACE, AND BROADWAY, THE GRAMMYS, FRED ASTAIRE, GERSHWIN, ELVIS, COPLAND, THE BEATLES, AND THE ROLLING STONES WOULD BE INCONCEIVABLE. AND IT IS INSTRUCTIVE TO NOTE THAT AFTER ALMOST 300 YEARS OF RED-HOT "CREATIVITY", GOING BACK TO THE FIRST RAP AND THE FIRST CAKE WALK ON THE FIRST PLANTATION, GOING BACK TO THE BLUES AND JAZZ AND THE CHARLESTON, AND TWIST, BACK TO LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND THOMAS DORSEY AND DUKE ELLINGTON AND MILES DAVIS AND JOHN COLTRANE AND ALVIN AILEY, THE OLD AND NEW BLACK MAGIC IS STILL WORKING. FOR NO ONE IN THIS PLACE HAS SAID ANYTHING NEW MUSICALLY IN THE LAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS EXCEPT THE BLACK CHILDREN WHO CAME OUT OF THE "BRONX" AND THE OTHER DESOLATEDSLUMS WITH THE NEW RHYTHMS OF RAP. W.E.B. DUBOIS ANTICIPATED THEM, ALTHOUGH HE WOULD HAVE DEPLORED THEIR LYRIC AND THEIR FAILURE TO TAKE ARMSTRONG'S METER AND ELLINGTON'S METER TO A HIGHER LEVEL. SEVENTY-SIX YEARS BEFORE THE RECORDING OF RAPPER'S DELIGHT, DU BOIS, AS WE HAVE SEEN, TOLD WHITE AMERICANS THAT AFRICAN-AMERICANS HAD MADE THREE FOUNDATIONAL GIFTS TO THE UNITED STATES: "THE FIRST? A GIFT OF STORY AND SONG....SOFT, STIRRING MELODY IN AN ILL-HARMONIZED AND UNMELODIOUS LAND. THE SECOND, A GIFT OF SWEAT AND BRAWN TO BEAT BACK THE WILDERNESS AND CONQUER THIS VAST ECONOMIC EMPIRE 200 HUNDRED YEARS EARLIER THAN YOUR HANDS COULD HAVE DONE IT ALONE. THE THIRD, A GIFT OF THE SPIRIT. AROUND US THE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY HAS RESOLVED FOR 300 YEARS.....FIRE AND BLOOD, PRAYER AND SACRIFICE, HAVE BILLOWED OVER THIS PEOPLE, AND OUR SONG, OUR TOIL, OUR CHEER AND OUR WARNING HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO THIS NATION IN BLOOD-BROTHERHOOD." THREE GIFTS OF STORY AND SONG, THE GIFT OF SWEAT AND BRAWN, THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT, AND A FOURTH THAT THE FIRST 3 ASSUME AND IMPLY, THE GIFT OF "DEMOCRACY". WE ARE AFRICANS, AND YET WE ARE NOT AFRICANS. WE ARE AMERICANS, AND YET WE ARE NOT AMERICANS. WE'RE BOTH/AND SOMETHING MORE, AND SOMETHING LESS. WE ARE SUSPENDED BETWEEN TWO WORDS. WE'RE BETWEEN TWO WORLDS; WE'RE BETWEEN TWO MEANINGS. WE ARE STRECTED TAUT, AS IT WERE, UPON A RACK OF A HYPHEN. AFRICAN - AMERICAN. AND; WE CAN SAY, AMOUNGST OTHER THINGS, THAT WE ARE THE FREEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. WE ARE SENTENCED BY HISTORY TO CONSTANT IMPROVISTION. WE ARE SENTENCED BY HISTORY TOCONSTANT CLARIFICATION. WE ARE SENTENCED BY HISTORY(BLACK HISTORY) TO A CONTINUING. WE ARE SENTENCED BY BLACK HISTORY TO A NEVER ENDING PROCESS OF GIVING BIRTH TO OURSELVES. WE ARE SENTENCED BY BLACK HISTORY TO A NEVER-DIEING PROCESS OF GIVING BIRTH TO OURSELVES. WE ARE SENTENCED BY BLACK HISTORY TOA NEVER COMPLETED PROCESS OF GIVING BIRTH TO OURSELVES. IT IS OUR FATE. IT IS OUR DESTINY. WE ARE CONDEMED BY BLACK HISTORY TO GIVE MEANING TO OURSELVES - AND TO OTHERS. WE ARE CONDEMED, BY BLACK HISTORY, EVERY DAY, EVERY HOUR, EVERY MINUTE, TO DECIDE WHO WE ARE-- AND WHAT OUR NAME IS. PEACE Y'ALL!!! SEE YOU LATER!!! DRINK PLENTY OF WATER AND GET PLENTY OF SLEEP!!! YOU KNOW FOR US NO DRUGS!!!

By: BreanneDEEEEE on 6/17/2010 9:01AM

By: BreanneDEEEEE on 6/17/2010 8:57AM

Neutral

YO deeev! Couldn't see the jay electronica vid, and it cut off in the middle. i was bummed. i loved your guests this week, they had SUCH good things to say. Some of the best guests ive seen on! id still like to see johnny polygon and maybe solange knowles?wouldn't that be some dope shit? she's black music!! Keep up the spark girl, i look forward to it !

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